MSU’s Weems named player of the week

ST. LOUIS — Missouri State standout Kyle Weems, a top candidate for Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, has earned the MVC’s Player of the Week honor for the fourth time this season after his efforts in two Bears’ wins last week.

Weems (Jr., F, Topeka, Kan.) helped push MSU back to the top of the MVC standings with wins over Bradley and Illinois State as Cuonzo Martin’s club improved to 20-6 overall and 12-3 in the conference. Weems put together back-to-back 20-point efforts with a season-high 27 points against Bradley and 21 points at Illinois State.

For the week, he averaged 24.0 points and 6.0 rebounds. He made an amazing 62 percent of his field goal attempts (13-for-21), 75 percent from three-point range (9-for-12), and 87 percent (13-of-15) at the free throw line. He scored 6 points in the final three minutes to ice the Bears’ sixth MVC road win on Saturday at Illinois State and had 7 points against Bradley in the final 3:13.

Weems is second in the MVC in scoring (17.0 ppg) and has now scored in double figures in 22 consecutive games, tying him for the 16th-longest active streak in Division I.

This is Weems’ fourth MVC Player of the Week honor this season. Earlier this season, he earned the honor on Dec. 20, Jan. 10 and Jan. 17.  He was also awarded the distinction once his sophomore season to make him a five-time recipient.

The last MVC player to earn the award four times in a single season was Kyle Korver of Creighton in 2002-03. Hersey Hawkins of Bradley won the honor six times in 1987-88 which stands as the MVC single-season record. Other players who have won the honor four times in a single campaign are: Hersey Hawkins, Bradley (1985-86), Hersey Hawkins, Bradley (1986-87), Ashraf Amaya, Southern Illinois (1991-92), Gary Collier, Tulsa (1993-94), and Marcus Wilson, Evansville (1998-99).